Exhalation port air noise on my CPAP nasal pillows is too noisy.

by John R
(Savoy, IL, USA)

My wife has been having trouble sleeping at night b/c of the air noise coming from the exhalation port on my resperonics nasal tubing. I have also noticed that it is pretty loud and wakes me up as well sometimes. My pressure is only 7 and my nasal pillows are pretty well seated so very little leaking is occurring. I do wake up in the morning a little gaseous, but nothing to horrible. IS there anything that I can do to tone down the noise? The machine itself is not loud, just the air coming out of the tube port. (Yes I did have the machine checked at my most recent meeting with the CPAP supply store, and the pressure is exactly 7.)

Can I put some kind of covering over the port, like a wash cloth or something, that would muffle the sound of the air? Any other thoughts? Thanks in advance for your help and advice! Sincerely, John

• Please don’t cover or even partially cover the exhalation port of your CPAP Nasal Pillows. Extremely dangerous. The Carbon Dioxide when you exhale must be vented out. Closest thing to muffling sound is putting a pillow between you & your wife. This way the sound is not in her ear.

• The truth of the matter is every type of CPAP mask will create some base line noise.

• Different masks have different noise levels. Just the way it is designed. Some quieter than others. However personal tolerance for what noise levels is more challenging.

• It may be your wife just needs more time to acclimate to the overall experience of sleeping with someone using a CPAP. As time progresses you both become desensitize to the sound level.

• Reach out to the people on the various CPAP forums. See what they did. Your experience is not unique.